almost obama-esque? August 29, 2008
Posted by Charles Noble in : music, portland, summer festivals, add a comment
Tom McCall Waterfront Park at Thursday
Thursday night’s free OSO concert at Tom McCall Waterfront Park was a great success, as you can see from the photo above, courtesy of OSO principal violist Joël Belgique (who has the smallest camera I’ve ever seen!). It was great to see the music lovers in our community turn out in such numbers! Thanks for coming!
speaking in forked tongues? August 29, 2008
Posted by Charles Noble in : appreciation/criticism, bloggers, contemporary, music, portland, seattle, summer festivals, add a commentMy OSO colleague Ron Blessinger is also the artistic director of the acclaimed new music ensemble Third Angle, and this September his group and the t:b:a festival (Festival of Time-based Art) are presenting a huge multimedia project devoted to the work of landscape architect Lawrence Halprin and his choreographer wife, Anna within some of his groundbreaking public spaces in downtown Portland, Oregon.
The project has had some incredible energy and collaboration poured into it (as well as a ton of money), and looks to be the major event of the t:b:a festival this year.
Well, the Seattle P-I’s arts critic, Regina Hackett, picked up on a press release and wrote the following in her blog on the P-I’s website:
One of the things I love about Portland, Oregon: You can be anything. If I lived there, my business card would say, “Regina Hackett. Speaker in tongues.”
The subject came up while reading a release from Portland’s “The City Dance of Lawrence and Anna Halprin” with “The Third Angle New Music Ensemble.” At the bottom of the list of choreographers, Randy Gragg gets a credit.
Randy Gragg? He’s an art and urban spaces critic, formerly of The Oregonian and now editor of a fancy lifestyle magazine. It’s way beneath his talents but not his pay grade. (Newspapers are floundering; lifestyle magazines are in the pink.)
Working there makes Gragg a sell-out. The term was an insult during the heyday of the counterculture but became a compliment during the Reagan administration. I’m sure I’d sell out if there were anyone to sell out to.
Is it just me, or is this completely snarky and unprofessional “journalism”? Why so vitriolic and transparently jealous and spiteful? I can’t believe that the online editor (if there even is one) allowed this to make it to the web unchallenged. It’s no wonder that print journalism is going the way of the dinosaur, with such low standards.
If you compare such a screed to what the Oregonian’s David Stabler writes on a regular basis in his blog on classical music, you’d see no relation whatsoever. David writes professionally at all times - it doesn’t matter that his words are appearing “only” on a computer screen and not on newsprint, he writes as if everyone in the state will be reading his words, not just some on-line cognoscenti looking to see who will be skewered next in some oh-so-clever way.
Well, Ron took out his electronic pen and wrote back - you can see the exchange here.
schnitzer hall upgrades? August 27, 2008
Posted by Charles Noble in : fundraising, music, politics, portland, add a comment
© Charles Noble
This was in today’s Daily Journal of Commerce:
Changes in store for Schnitz, Main Street
New RFP issued by MERC calls for designs of an ‘iconic venue’ next to hall to transform Main StreetPOSTED: 04:00 AM PDT Monday, August 25, 2008
BY SAM BENNETTThe Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall is ready for a makeover.
The 80-year-old concert hall, formerly the Paramount Theatre, has a tight lobby when filled with people, cramped seating and a shortage of women’s restrooms, according to Robyn Williams, executive director of the Portland Center for the Performing Arts.
PCPA is part of the Metropolitan Exposition Recreation Commission (MERC), a subsidiary of Metro. MERC oversees the PCPA as well as the Oregon Convention Center and Portland Expo Center.
To address concerns about the concert hall, MERC is planning a two-part project that would fix its inadequacies and also explore developing a structure next to the hall on Southwest Main Street, between Southwest Broadway and Southwest Park Avenue.
A recently released request for proposals, issued by MERC, seeks architects “to design both a significant expansion to the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall and the creation of a new iconic venue transforming Main Street between the concert hall and the Antoinette Hatfield Hall in a cultural center and pedestrian plaza.”
The RFP calls for a facility on Main Street that “could be used to host small classes, seminars and public outreach programs in a cultural arts district setting.”
Williams said the winning architecture firm would “look at what’s possible and what’s not possible” in terms of upgrades to the hall, informally known as the Schnitz, and construction on or over Main Street.
Possibilities for Main Street could include a restaurant or additional performance space, Williams said. “We don’t know if we can close Main Street or build something over it,” she said. “We want to do something that’s in the best interest of the arts.”
The Schnitz is overdue for improvements, according to Williams. MERC wants the winning firm to study possible acoustic improvements and a seismic upgrade to the Schnitz.
She said some of the improvements, such as acoustic changes, would be made to improve the symphony-goer’s experience.
Elaine Calder, president of the Oregon Symphony Association, said the symphony wants to know “what can be accomplished by way of acoustic enhancements and physical improvements to the auditorium.”
“As the major tenant of the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall, we are of course vitally interested in the planned improvements,” she said. “Patron amenities are important to us and to our audiences, and so is the actual musical experience.”
The RFP is broken into two phases: in the first phase, MERC will seek qualified architects, and in the second phase MERC will ask three firms to participate in a conceptual design competition “for design of an iconic Main Street venue.”
A 2005 feasibility study, according to the RFP, determined that the Schnitz and the Hatfield Hall would benefit from new construction on Main Street, by providing a new cultural center. The Schnitz would also need renovations and enhancements that would help the overall “building design and public experience,” it states.
The Schnitz was built in 1928 as a venue for vaudeville and showing movies. It remained a movie theater until 1972 and then became a concert hall. It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1976 and received a major renovation in 1984. The building was designed by the firm Rapp and Rapp, in the Italian Renaissance style. It seats 2,700.
Williams said the winning design firm will need to explore what can be done with the block-long stretch of Main Street, which currently can be closed off with gates for special events. As for the Schnitz, she said, “We’re looking at how to make this a good, vital home for the arts and how to keep the facility vital for the next 20 years.”
What is most sad about this, to me, is that if Elaine Calder hadn’t been solicited to comment for this article, there would have been no mention of the acoustics of the hall whatsoever. It’s not the worst hall in the world, but it’s rapidly falling behind the class of the orchestra which it houses. That having been said (and duly noted, I hope) front of house amenities have been sorely lacking, and some sort of major overhaul is needed. I hope that plans will soon be underway to figure out where the symphony will perform while this is being done!
editorial license July 25, 2008
Posted by Charles Noble in : fundraising, portland, the orchestra world, 3commentsDoubtless, many of you have seen (care of ArtsJournal.com and other online sources) the latest Portland Business Journal article about the imminent death of the Oregon Symphony. Well, the OSO is hardly dying, and to paraphrase an old saw, the reports of our demise are greatly exaggerated. (more…)
the critical diaspora July 9, 2008
Posted by Charles Noble in : News, appreciation/criticism, bloggers, music, portland, the orchestra world, 9commentsThere’s been a lot of coverage lately of the dismissal/downsizing of some of the nation’s top print classical music critics. And there should have been. Newspapers are one of the primary ways that orchestras communicate and market to their target audiences. Check out these statistics, courtesy of the Newspaper Association of America (NAA):
- 74% of newspaper readers are 45 years of age or older
- 51% of newspaper subscribers earn more than $50K
- 53% of newspaper subscribers have attended college and/or have earned advanced degrees
Sounds a lot like the average symphony attendee, doesn’t it?
Plus, with orchestras being in such a fragile state financially, having trained journalists with long experience (and the accountability that should go with a position at a daily or weekly paper) covering their beats is essential.
As a blogger who makes no claims to being a journalist, either in an amateur or professional capacity, I’m concerned about rumor-mongering and innuendo that could place livelihoods and the health of entire organizations in danger.
That’s not to say that there aren’t some excellent arts bloggers out there, but I find that I put a lot more faith in those who have either had a print journalism background or those who are currently active in the field of print journalism.
I’m not sure why the newspapers are shooting themselves in the foot (or other, less strategically desirable body parts), but I hope that our hometown daily, the Oregonian, keeps their one full-time classical music critic around for years to come.
landscape and dance: the halprin collaboration June 24, 2008
Posted by Charles Noble in : chamber music, contemporary, music, portland, 1 comment so far
Tuesday morning Heather and I went to Pettygrove Park, and small urban oasis set in a 70’s urban renewal zone largely characterized by monolithic, concrete apartment blocks. It is one of three plazas in the area designed by renowned landscape architect Lawrence Halprin, along with the Keller Fountain (formerly the Forecourt Fountain) and the Lovejoy Fountain. We went there, instruments in hand, to check out the acoustics of the site for a planned installation of music and dance for the 2008 PICA TBA Festival (Festival of Time-Based Art). (more…)
a nice ride May 25, 2008
Posted by Charles Noble in : cycling, portland, add a commentThere was no denying it, Saturday was the perfect day to go for a ride. My quandary was that I also needed to have energy to practice, so an ‘epic’ ride was not in order. So, I decided to tackle a route that has long fascinated and scared me: Terwilliger Blvd. (more…)
Ride of Silence May 23, 2008
Posted by Charles Noble in : cycling, portland, the orchestra world, add a comment
Ride of Silence - Portland-4.jpg | Originally uploaded by BikePortland.org
click photo to enlarge
Thursday evening a Ride of Silence was held in Portland to remember fallen cyclists from the past year. A worthy endeavor in which I wish I’d been able to take part.
For more coverage and info see bikeportland.org.
crosscut article: full interview May 19, 2008
Posted by Charles Noble in : News, bloggers, portland, the orchestra world, add a commentAs you may know, I was recently profiled as part of a Crosscut article about Portland arts advocates. It was ably written by Portland music writer and musician Stephen Marc Beaudoin. It was an honor to be included, and I was happy with the article as it was published. (more…)
Seattle loses long-time music critic - is Portland next? May 12, 2008
Posted by Charles Noble in : appreciation/criticism, music, portland, seattle, add a commentMelinda Bargreen, classical music critic in Seattle for the past 30 years, has accepted a buy-out from the Seattle Times as part of a restructuring of the paper’s staff. You can read her last column here.
Now read this blog entry by our lone full-time classical music critic here in Portland, David Stabler of the Oregonian. I’d be tempted to say that it sounds like we might lose our classical music critic sooner rather than later, too. The question to be asked might be, is the paper cutting staff or has Stabler just burned out on covering a growing music scene? Every critic has his/her own supporters and detractors, and that’s certainly the case with Stabler, but he has, until lately, done an excellent job of writing articles that keep the arts front and center in the consciousness of the city, and which have provoked a lot of lively discussion.
I hope that it’s just a moment of end-of-season ennui on his part, because Portland’s arts organizations are struggling enough as it is without having to worry about losing coverage in the state’s largest daily newspaper.
